PCB Sand Sports Offers Free Introduction to Beach Tennis

PCB Sand Sports in partnership with Beach Tennis USA will be hosting the first annual Sharkys Beach Tennis Doubles on Saturday March 14th.

This is a FREE tournament to introduce the sport of Beach Tennis to the community and provide local FUN between the Spring Break week.
Did we say Free! Yes this is a benefit to the locals to come out and play during the transition day of Spring Break and have some fun.
If you currently play Tennis or have never played any Tennis at all come out and try it at Sharkys on the Beach.

Registration will begin at 10:30 a.m. and play will begin at 11:00. The first 16 teams to register will receive a “free” Beach Tennis t-shirt.
The tournament will be double elimination or pool play depending on the number of teams as we begin to promote and introduce this “new fun” sport to the community.
We are going to provide the first place team with a dinner for two coupon to Sharkys.

Come out and watch the Beach Tennis tournaments through March 18th daily to see the College vs. College competition.
Or just come out to pick up a few tips from the Pros since leagues will begin at Sharkys In May for Beach Tennis.

This is a great family sport and is growing rapidly worldwide.

For more information email beachresearch@yahoo.com or call 850-769-4802.

Grills Gone Wild is Back, To Cook 1,000's LBS of Meat for Charity

The success of Grills Gone Wild 1 was so immense they decided to do it again, for a different charity this year.

The original Grills Gone Wild, meant to be a tongue in cheek stab at the Girls Gone Wild garbage our area was going through last year with Joe Francis, was a refreshing positive twist our area surely needed. The goal was to raise money for Aaron Nichols, son of Gary Nichols, the band director of Arnold High School. Aaron was injured and paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident. When insurance money ran out, the Nichols family still had a little more than $20,000 in improvements they needed to make to their home to accommodate their son. The event raised $24,000 and provided the much needed modifications to the house.

The original goal was to sell 500 tickets last year for $12 a piece, but the event “mushroomed” as Alan Graham put it and benefited from a turnout that was much greater than expected. “We ended up cooking ten 200 pound pigs and 180 Boston Butts and fed 2,500 people.”

There was such a demand for this again, that they actually sought out a charity to help this year so they could bring the party back to the beach. Benefiting this year is the new Miracle League baseball field currently being constructed at Frank Brown Park. The field is padded to prevent injury, the bases are painted on, and the dugouts will all be wheelchair accessible. Proceeds from Grills Gone Wild 2 will go towards building the fence for the field, which costs about $20,000.

The event is sponsored by Counts Real Estate and The Rotary Club. “All the meat has be to purchased up front,” Graham said, “we’re trying to sell the tickets up front, but what we don’t get sold, we’ll come up with the money to buy the meat.” If you’re a griller, you can still enter for the Boston Butts, the chicken and the rib category, but if you want to cook a pig, you’ll have to wait until next year as they’ve already been ordered.

“The pigs take about 22 hours to cook,” said Graham, “we cook ’em low and slow.” The best way to cook pork is at a low temperature for a long time, that way the meat just falls right apart. They will have the grills set up around the pavilion by the playground and pool at Frank Brown Park with tables set up inside where the basketball courts are and outside around the pavilion in the lawn. The party will start with the grills firing up early Friday afternoon March 13th and food will be served all afternoon Saturday March 14th.

Tickets can be purchased at any Counts Real Estate Office, by contacting any Rotary Club member or at the event. Tickets are being sold for $10 this year. If you want to grill the cost is $100 per grill.

You should come out and support this great cause and hang with the community. For more information, contact Alan Graham at 850 896 2648.

Walton Area Chamber Luncheon to Discuss Tourist Tax Dollars Wednesday

The Walton Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its monthly Power of Business Luncheon on Wednesday, March 4th at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort at 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. The program will be focused on the upcoming tourist season and how tourist tax dollars affect the Northwest Florida economy.

At the luncheon, Sonny Mares, Executive Director of the Beaches of South Walton and Dan Rowe, President/CEO – Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) will be on hand to discuss the tourist season that is fast approaching and the 5th cent bed tax that will be used primarily to attract a low cost airline carrier to Northwest Florida.

To register, please call the Walton Area Chamber of Commerce at (850) 267-0683 or email info@waltonareachamber.com.

I’ll be there.

More Info on Pro Volleyball Coming to PCB

The AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour will kick off its 2009 season in a unique fashion; the Tour is holding its first-ever Spring Break event in Panama City Beach, Fla., March 27-29. The event will feature the world’s best beach volleyball players, including 2008 Olympic gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, battling it out on the sand amidst the excitement of Spring Break.

Panama City Beach plays host to hundreds of thousands of college students each year, who descend on the Florida coast to soak up the surf and sand, and party on the beach. While the main event of AVP’s Spring Break will be the AVP Crocs Tour Panama City Beach Open, taking place March 27-29, the AVP will head to Panama Beach City on March 7 to start its three-week Spring Break experience.

“We are excited to bring the AVP to Spring Break for the very first time,” said Leonard Armato, CEO and Commissioner of AVP Pro Beach Volleyball. “The biggest beach party in the country is the perfect atmosphere in which to kick off our 2009 season.”

The finale of the AVP’s Spring Break in Panama City Beach will come as the AVP Crocs Tour Panama City Beach Open. A one-day qualifier will begin on Friday morning, March 27, followed by a live band in the evening. Men’s and women’s Main Draw action will start on Saturday morning with both men’s and women’s finals planned for Sunday afternoon. AVP specifically chose the last weekend of March for their tournament because it is both the final weekend of collegiate Spring Break and the first weekend of “family spring break”. The event will be a fun party for all ages.

Prior to the competition, the first two weeks of Spring Break will include numerous promotions and events geared towards Spring Breakers. The third week of the AVP’s Spring Break event will start off with the first-ever Collegiate Beach Challenge. Starting on Tuesday, March 24, college students from across the country will have the chance to participate in a two-day four-on-four beach volleyball tournament. There will be men’s, women’s and coed divisions competing for cash prizes.

The AVP Crocs Tour event will take place directly behind Sharky’s Beach Front Restaurant & Tiki Bar, located in the heart of Panama City Beach at The Towne of Seahaven. In an attempt to revert back to the sport’s beginnings, six of the courts will be set up in “old school” style. This set-up will include minimal bleacher seating, allowing plenty of room for beachgoers to throw down their towels and fully enjoy the beach party atmosphere of Spring Break.

About AVP, Inc.:
AVP, Inc. is a leading lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of professional beach volleyball events worldwide. One of the fastest growing entities in the sports world, the AVP operates two of the industry’s most prominent national outdoor touring series, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour (1983) and the AVP Hot Winter Nights Indoor Tour (launched in 2008). The AVP is set to stage more than 35 events throughout the United States in 2009 and features more than 150 of the top men and women competitors in the sport. AVP athletes won both the women’s and men’s gold medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing, marking the first gold medal sweep by a single country in the history of Olympic Beach Volleyball. AVP is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. For more information, please visit http://www.avp.com.

Special Called TDC Meeting to Discuss 5th Cent Bed Tax Increase

Monday there is a special called TDC meeting that will precede the regularly scheduled County Commission meeting on Tuesday. Tuesday’s meeting will include the vote for the fifth tourist bed tax cent. On the agenda for Monday’s TDC meeting, there are a couple of other points to be discussed, but I reckon the main reason for the “special” annotation in the title is regarding the vote on the fifth cent on Tuesday.

The agenda item reads: “Discuss and Consider for Approval a Resolution to the Bay County Commission Regarding the Proposed 5th Cent. . .” I just received an email from a buddy asking me what I thought about the TDC changing the allocation of the fifth cent from sports and infrastructure improvements to all marketing. My computer crashed Wednesday and I’ve been waiting on my new computer since, and have been sort of in a forced vacation, so I’m not exactly sure what he is talking about yet, but stay tuned – I’ll let you know. I’m not sure I can get behind the TDC if they are wanting all of the increase to go towards marketing, but I’ll obstain further comment until I get the whole story.

The agenda can be downloaded here, or you can view it below:

AGENDA

Special Called Meeting

COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Monday, February 16, 2009 3:00 p.m. Council Room, PCB City Hall

I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

A. Invocation
B. Pledge of Allegiance

III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV. BOARD ACTION ITEMS

A. Discuss and Consider for Approval Landscape Maintenance Contract, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
B. Discuss and Consider for Approval a Resolution to the Bay County Commission Regarding the Proposed 5th Cent of the Tourist Development Tax, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

V. BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

VI. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

VII. ADJOURNMENT

Bay County Commission Meeting – 5th Cent Bed Tax Increase

Tuesday February 17th, the Bay County Commission in Panama City Florida will meet to again discuss the bed tax increase. This is a regularly scheduled meeting with the bed tax discussion last on the agenda for discussion. The January meeting resulted in the bed tax collection being increased from 3 cents to 4 cents. The 5th cent was discussed, but it was decided to table that decision until this upcoming Tuesday.

If you remember the last meeting, I predicted that the fourth cent would pass but the fifth cent would not. Commissioners Mike Thomas, Bill Dozier, and Mike Nelson were all in support of the increase, while Commissioner Gainer was adamantly opposed. Commissioner and Chairman Jerry Girvin was considered the swing vote, and could go either way. In the beginning he voiced that he wasn’t sure which way he would ultimately go. In the end, he voted no to the fourth cent, but it still passed as all it needed was a majority.

The fifth cent requires a super-majority or 4 of the 5 commissioners.

You can download the agenda here.

Here are some related articles:

Bring on the Hike

Bed Tax – 4th cent passed, 5th cent tabled

Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday in Pier Park

This Saturday, February 14th, be sure to come out to Pier Park for the Mardi Gras Parade put on by the Krewe of Dominique Youx. With around 50 floats expected and thousands of people to be there, it is sure to be a total blast. The Parade starts at 3 pm at the intersection of Hills and Front Beach Road and will travel west-bound on Front Beach Road, enter into Pier Park and end at the end of the Boardwalk area at the round-a-bout.

The Krewe of Dominique Youx is Bay County’s original organization of over 185 members who have celebrated the festive Mardi Gras season here in Bay County for over 22 years. Dominique Youx is the nickname used by the eldest member of the famous Lafitte family of buccaneers who sailed the southern seas in the early 1800’s plundering vessels of those deemed to be their enemies. Dominique Youx was actually Fredric Alexander Lafitte, brother of Jean and Pierre Lafitte. He was the first of the Brothers to become a buccaneer. He was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte as a privateer and served for France during the war with Spain. When the Lafitte’s moved to New Orleans, the charismatic Jean Lafitte organized hundreds of rogues into a band of pirates who became the scourge of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Local rumor has it that some of their loot is still hidden in the estuary of St.Andrew Bay.

After the parade, be sure to join Bootleg Barbeque’s 1st Annual Mardi Gras Party and Crawfish Boil to benefit the Anchorage Children’s Home. Bootleg will be serving up true Louisiana-style crawfish boiled to the tune of live zydeco music performed by Heat & the Zydeco Gents at 4 pm with festivities expected to roll through 8 pm.

Bootleg Barbeque, a locally owned and operated business, appreciates the community support it has received in its first year and is sponsoring this event as a small way to give back to the community through this truly worthy cause.

Anchorage Children’s Home is a private, non-profit, Christian organization serving, protecting and strengthening children, families and community. Anchorage offers emergency shelter for children and youth who have been abused, abandoned and neglected. Anchorage also offers services to homeless youth through transitional living, street outreach and maternity home programs. Anchorage Children’s Home’s mission is to be an Anchor for today’s children…strengthening tomorrow’s families.

For more information on Anchorage Children’s Home visit their web site at anchoragechildrenshome.org.
Event information can be found at Bootleg Barbeque’s web site rockabillybarbeque.com

TDC Meeting Agenda – Discuss Bed Tax Collections, Sports Marketing

Tuesday’s combined Panama City Beach Tourist Development Council/Convention and Visitors Bureau (TDC/CVB) should be a good one. With presentations from Ellen Killough of the Visual Arts Center and Emerald Coast Cruizin, we should have a better idea of how some events went last year and what we are to expect this year.

The four board action items include consideration for approval the financial statements, Coastal Planning and Engineering Invoices, funding for the Northwest Florida Fly-in Visitor Survey, and enhancements to the Clerk of the Court’s Tourist Development Tax.

We’ll also see an update on Sports Marketing Activities and regular marketing activities, along with an update on the new web site.

You can download the agenda here, or view it below.

AGENDA

COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 9:00 a.m. Council Room, PCB City Hall

I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

A.    Invocation
B.    Pledge of Allegiance
C.    Approve Minutes From the December 17, 2008, and January 12, 2009 Meetings

III. REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV. UPDATE ON BED TAX COLLECTIONS, Ms. Charlene Honnen, Tourist Development Tax Specialist

V. PRESENTATIONS

A. Visual Arts Center, Ms. Ellen Killough, Executive Director
B. Emerald Coast Cruizin’ Event, Mr. Robert Parrish

VI. BOARD ACTION ITEMS

A.    Discuss and Consider for Approval CVB/TDC Financial Statements Dated November 30, 2008, and December 31, 2008, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
B.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Coastal Planning & Engineering Invoice #90118, Invoice #90119, and Invoice #90143, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
C.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Funding the Northwest Florida Fly-In Visitor Survey, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
D.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Enhancements to the Clerk of the Court’s Tourist Development Tax Collection Efforts, Mr. Bill Kinsaul, Clerk of the Court

VII. BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

A. Update on Sports Marketing Activities, Mr. Richard Sanders, VP of Sports Marketing
B. Update on Marketing Activities, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

VIII. PRESIDENT’S REPORT

IX. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

X. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

XI. ADJOURNMENT

Seabreeze Jazz Festival 2009 at Pier Park

The Seabreeze Jazz Festival is coming to Pier Park in April, bringing not only something new to our area because of Pier Park, but also a huge list of artists and a promise of a high-quality, entertaining weekend.

The weekend will start Thursday April 16th at 7 pm with a dinner Cruise with Alex Bugnon on board the Salaris dinner yacht from the Bay Point Marina. Friday, gates open at 5 pm at the Pier Park Amphitheatre (aka, Aaron Bessant Park) with jazz to begin filling the air at 6 pm. At 8:30 pm, an All-Star Jam will begin featuring various artists such as Nick Colionne, Shilts, and Four 80 East.

The festival will continue Saturday morning at 9 am and continue with food and jazz all day long.

The general admission cost each day is $80 per person with a weekend pass being sold ad $130 per person. The VIP pass is $375 per person and includes all performances all weekend, on-site VIP parking, early admission, covered seating with closeup view of performances, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday with evening food included Friday through Sunday – oh, and the VIP tickets are sold out, according to the website. If you want to eat on the Solaris, tickets are $135 per person.

Full event details:

COST:
General Admission Each Day: $80 per person
Weekend Pass: $130 per person
VIP Weekend Pass: $375 per person

WHEN:
Thursday, April 16 through Sunday, April 19
(see attached schedule)

WHERE:
Pier Park – Amphitheater
600 Pier Park Drive
Panama City Beach, FL 32413

2009 Seabreeze Jazz Festival Schedule
Pier Park Amphitheater Panama City Beach, FL
Presented By ResortQuest

Festival Host: Nick Colionne

Thursday, April 16

7 p.m.
Smooth Jazz Dinner Cruise with Alex Bugnon
Presented by Marriott Bay Point Resort
Aboard The Solaris dinner yacht; boarding begins at 6 p.m. at the Bay Point Marina

Friday, April 17

(Gates open at 5 p.m.)

6 – 7:45 p.m.
Urban Jazz Coalition

8:30 p.m.
Smooth Jazz All-Star Jam
Featuring Nick Colionne, Shilts, Four 80 East, Brian Simpson, Matt Marshak, Joyce Cooling, Nils, Alex, Bugnon, Eric Darius, Althea Rene, Jackiem Joyner and special guests

10:30 p.m.
Jazz Under the Stars Party
With Urban Jazz Coalition and friends
(Pier Park Special Club Location)
Sponsored by Smooth Lounge dot com

Saturday, April 18

(Gates open at 9 a.m. – VIP early entry at 8:30 a.m.)

10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Althea Rene

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Eric Darius

1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
The Seabreeze Groove Project
Featuring Four 80 East, Shilts and Matt Marshak
Sponsored by Smooth Lounge dot com

3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Joyce Cooling

5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Will Downing

7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Wayman Tisdale

9:30 p.m.
Jazz Under the Stars Party
With Four 80 East, Shilts, Matt Marshak and friends
(Pier Park Special Club Location)
Sponsored by Smooth Lounge dot com

Sunday, April 19

(Gates open at 9 a.m. – VIP early entry at 8:30 a.m.)

10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Jones and Company

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Roman Street

1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Brian Simpson / Nils / Jackiem Joyner

3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Warren Hill

5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Nick Colionne

7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Boney James

Education Forum to be held in Panama City

An Education Forum will be held Saturday, January 31 from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm in the St. Andrews Episcopal Church Community Room at 1608 Baker Court in Panama City. The event is FREE.

The topics will include finding the right school for your child; financial planning for education and the link between diet, exercise and learning. Childcare will be provided.

The event is sponsored by the Panama City Renaissance School, the Chautauqua Learn and Serve Charter School, the Bay County Health Department, Merrill Lynch, Northwest Florida Surgery Center, Head and Neck Associates of Bay County and David Kozan of CDM.

For more information about the event, call 850-215-8712 or visit the event website at PanamaCityKids.org.